Chapter 35

Chapter 35

1 Then The All-Powerful One said to Jacob, 'Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to The All-Powerful One, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.'

2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, 'Put away the foreign idols that are in your midst, purify yourselves, and change your garments;

3 then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to The All-Powerful One, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have traveled.'

4 They gave to Jacob all the foreign idols which were in their hands and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the tamarisk tree which was by Shechem.

5 As they journeyed, a terror from The All-Powerful One was upon the cities that were around them, so they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob arrived at Luz (which is in the land of Canaan), he and all the people who were with him, that is, Bethel.

7 He built an altar there and named the place El-Bethel (All-Powerful One of the House of The All-Powerful), because there The All-Powerful One had revealed Himself to him when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; so the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (Oak of Weeping).

9 Then The All-Powerful One appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and endowed him with the power of life.

10 The All-Powerful One said to him, 'Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.' So He named him Israel.

11 The All-Powerful One said to him, 'I am The Almighty Sustainer. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a vast assembly of nations shall come from you, and kings shall descend from your body.

12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you; and to your offspring after you I will give this land.'

13 Then The All-Powerful One ascended from him at the place where He had spoken with him.

14 Jacob set up a memorial pillar in the place where He had spoken with him—a memorial pillar of stone—and he poured a drink-offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

15 Jacob named the place where The All-Powerful One had spoken with him, Bethel (House of The All-Powerful).

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still a distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and she experienced extreme painful strain.

17 During her extreme painful strain in labor, the midwife said to her, 'Do not fear, for you will have this son also.'

18 And as her life-soul was departing—for she died—she named him Ben-oni (Son of My Painful Strain); but his father named him Benjamin (Son of the Right Hand).

19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

20 Jacob set up a memorial pillar on her grave; that is the memorial pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

21 Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22 While Israel was dwelling in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s secondary woman; and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were 12.

23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant: Dan and Naphtali.

26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided as foreigners.

28 The days of Isaac were 180 years.

29 So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his ancestors, an old man who had lived a full life; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.